Microsoft tests Windows 11 with a built-in fix for bad meeting audio

Microsoft released a new Canary test build for Windows yesterday that brings the company’s Voice Clarity feature, which previously only worked on Surface devices, to all Windows machines, including those using ARM CPUs. The company says in a blog post that the feature uses “low complexity AI models” to filter out background noise, echo, and reverberation in real-time.

If Voice Clarity works well enough, its obvious best use case is to make Zoom or Teams meetings less insufferable — after all, how many times have you found yourself lost because someone is giving a presentation while standing 10 feet away from a laptop, their voice awash in a sea of reverb or echo? Or been unable to concentrate on what you’re saying because your every word is being blasted back at you through another attendee’s microphone?

Microsoft says PC games can also use the feature for voice chat, where, again, it will use AI to suppress unwanted background noise. The build also brings immediate access of photos and screenshots from connected Android devices and a new Windows setup procedure that the company says has “a much cleaner and more modern design.” It also adds for the 80Gbps update to USB4.